Traveling through 1942 with space

Chapter 184 Shortsightedness

Digging a well is physically demanding work and involves risk to life, so the pay should naturally be higher.

Normally, a 30-meter-deep well like the one in Hou Xiaoge's home can be dug in two days at most.

But it is winter now, and the work efficiency is not high. Moreover, the refugees are not in good physical condition, so their work efficiency is naturally average.

This is also the reason why Hou Xiaoge has to take care of the meals. If he doesn't take care of the meals and lets these people dig, it will probably take them until the New Year.

Now that everything is arranged, the first thing to do is to eat!

The emperor doesn't lack hungry soldiers! It was noon, and Hou Xiaoge asked his cheap mother to make a cornmeal dumpling soup for everyone.

Although it is called dumpling soup, a lot of cornmeal is used.

Because it was the first day of work, Wang Maimiao specially added some braised meat and broth as the base, so the meal was still very sumptuous.

You can eat as much dumpling soup as you want, and each person has two corn pancakes. Several people who hadn't eaten for a long time each ate two large bowls.

In fact, this amount of food was not enough for everyone. If they ate as much as they wanted, everyone could finish two bowls. But the farmers knew that they couldn't eat too much, otherwise they couldn't work, so they ate until they were about 60% to 70% full.

If you tell the name of the tool used to dig wells, you will definitely be shocked. It is the famous Luoyang shovel.

Don't get me wrong, this does not belong to Hou Xiaoge. Hou Xiaoge borrowed it from the village and it belongs to the village.

Based on the direction of the well at the entrance of the village, everyone finally chose the direction that was consistent with the well at the entrance of the village.

As for the location of the well, it is naturally the front yard. There is no reason to dig a well in the back yard. It is not in line with feng shui.

Digging a well is hard work. It is not something that can be done by just digging with a Luoyang shovel. A lot of water is needed. But it is winter now, so forget it. Using water? It is easy to make people sick.

At the beginning, it took a lot of effort to dig the top few dozen centimeters of soil because it was frozen. After digging half a meter, it became much faster.

At first, Hou Xiaoge thought that the width of the well was enough for one person to dig.

But my eldest cousin's uncle said that this was a waste of manpower and that it would be faster if the well was dug a little bigger and two people worked together.

So, a one-meter-wide well mouth was slowly dug by two people using a Luoyang shovel.

Hou Xiaoge looked at the two people going down the wellhead that was hugged by one person, and felt a little sad that people in this era were fortunately all thin, otherwise, like in later generations, many people would have potbellies and would be stuck.

The digging was quite fast. Two men took the Luoyang shovel and started digging. In less than three hours, the well was higher than their heads.

At this time, everyone was tired and climbed up to rest. Hou Xiaoge tactfully offered to treat them to some dry tobacco.

A pound of dry tobacco costs one dollar, which is really not cheap, but it is much cheaper than buying finished cigarettes.

Of course, Hou Xiaoge didn't buy it! He planted an acre of crops in the space, and asked the Yanhuang League to sell some every once in a while, making a lot of profit.

The dry pipe is filled with white paper cut by Hou Xiaoge. When smoking, he rolls the dry tobacco into the white paper, and a simple cigarette is made.

"Shit, hiss!"

"The smell of this cigarette is really annoying! I haven't smoked for a long time. I dare not take a big puff, otherwise I will feel dizzy." A hired worker who was as thin as a skeleton said relaxedly while smoking a cigarette.

"Yes! This cigarette is still good. After taking a few puffs, it can relieve fatigue and immediately make you feel energetic again." My eldest cousin and second uncle responded with a smile.

Each of the hired workers smoked two cigarettes, drank a bowl of tea, and then two people took over and continued working.

This time, the people who went down the well took off their outer cotton jackets and went down the well wearing only the washed single clothes.

As the depth of the well increases, the space inside becomes smaller and smaller, and people work very hard. The temperature in the well is very high, enough to make people sweat.

After working for more than an hour, the well had been dug to more than three meters deep. It was dark by this time, and everyone began to call it a day.

After work, Hou Xiaoge's family was not stingy and provided two meals a day as agreed upon, even though he only worked half a day today, the second meal was still provided.

The dinner was cornmeal and pickles. Seeing that everyone was working hard, Hou Xiaoge cut a plate of green onions and braised pork for them.

After working for an entire afternoon, everyone was tired and their mouths watered as they looked at the meat dishes mixed with red oil.

Hou Xiaoge walked away tactfully, otherwise these people would not be able to enjoy their meal.

Sure enough, after Hou Xiaoge left, everyone started swinging their chopsticks like forks happily, and in less than two minutes, the whole plate of meat was eaten up.

After eating the meat dishes, everyone devoured a large bowl of corn grits. The bowl and the bowl were all gone, marking the end of a sumptuous meal.

When everyone was leaving, Hou Xiaoge asked everyone to bring containers for food tomorrow. Since no one brought containers today, the food would not be distributed yet, and they would be distributed together tomorrow.

No one doubted that Hou Xiaoge did not provide food. After all, the food and cigarettes they ate today were worth far more than the two and a half kilograms of bran for half a day.

After everyone left, Hou Xiaoge found a wooden board to cover the well to prevent the blind man from falling in.

In the evening, after closing his stall, my uncle came back and brought a few elders to Hou Xiaoge's house to explain the situation in the village today.

"Today, we made 400 strings of candied haws, and the villagers bought them all. But we only made 10 kilograms of hawthorn snowballs, which are not easy to carry, so we keep them in the warehouse.

Heiwa, how long can that thing last after it's made? Why don't you take it to the Yanhuang League tomorrow and see if you can sell it?" Fifth Master asked Hou Xiaoge with a happy face.

"Uncle Wu, look at the way you're smiling. Why are the villagers doing well in sales today?" Hou Xiaoge asked with a smile.

"Well! It's the end of the year now, and people are willing to spend money. Today, all the candied haws taken out of the village were sold out, except for those that went out late in the afternoon.

The village earned five dollars a piece today, and with the increase in production, the cost should be recovered soon. "Old Fifth smiled happily, stroking his beard.

"Uncle Wu, the other villagers will definitely do the candied haws wholesale business, and many villagers who sell candied haws will do it themselves after they earn money and have the capital.

If the village focuses on making candied haws, then there is really no need to open a workshop. The focus should be on making fruit snowballs.

Fruit snowballs are rare on the market, and the premium for selling them is high. I will contact people to package them, and sell them as gifts during the Chinese New Year. I will definitely make a lot of money.

When a business sells something, it needs a stable supply, so that it can spend time on publicity and transportation.

Now you only produce ten kilograms a day. To be honest, this amount is not even enough to pay for the labor!

It would be embarrassing enough if I had to ask someone for help with something.

Later, I suggested that the village focus on fruit snowballs. When they can produce more than 500 kilograms a day, that would be considered a business.

As for making candied haws, have you ever calculated the workers' wages, fruit costs, candy money, firewood costs, and the cost of the pot we invest in?

I've calculated that we can earn less than one dollar from one hundred candied haws, and we have to make tens of thousands of them to recoup our investment.

Therefore, making candied haws is not cost-effective at all. And as I have said, as the volume in the village increases, the purchase of hawthorns will also be a problem, and there will definitely not be such a large volume.

So I advise you to give up making candied haws and make fruit snowballs instead. "Hou Xiaoge didn't expect the villagers to be so short-sighted, and he criticized them mercilessly.